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Vin Santo del Chanti

I discovered a dusty bottle of Vigna del Papa Vin Santo, vintage 1998, that my parents had given us way long ago. We're about to open it, but what to expect? What is the shelf life of this wine? Is it way past its peak?

Replies

What you have is a somewhat sweet style of wine generally made from the white, Trebbiano grape in Tuscany. Traditional it is made in an oxidized style, which yields wines that are decidedly nutty, though i am not familiar with the producer of your bottle. 1998 is a fine vintage for Vin Santo and i would expect this bottle to show just fine. Many people enjoy dipping biscotti into their Vin Santo, and it is a common way to finish a glass in Tuscan.

Good question, I had an event where I gave everyone a glass of Vin Santo with Biscotti and I thought that exact same thing. In the end I served the wine in regular glasses but gave each guest a glass expresso cup, in the center of their dessert plate, filled half way to dip in. I'm not sure how they do it in Italy and I wasn't terribly happy with the answer i came up with either.